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(Bloomberg) – Germany's Angela Merkel has set out her vision of a more assertive European Union with a European army, while Donald Trump's provocative tweets sought to stir up old divisions among Western allies.
The generally sober Chancellor has taken an unusually bold stance when addressing European legislators in Strasbourg. She had spent the weekend in Paris, alongside more than 60 world leaders, at the end of the First World War and had witnessed the tensions between Trump and Frenchman Emmanuel Macron.
In the French capital, she defended her world view against criticism of the US presidency during her fight against Macron. On Tuesday in the European Parliament, she went even further by explaining to MEPs that they had to adapt to a world in which Europe's traditional allies could no longer guarantee the security of the continent.
"We should also work on the vision of one day to create a real European army," Merkel said. "The times in which we could rely unconditionally on others are gone."
As many lawmakers have applauded, comments have elicited strong taunts from eurosceptic lawmakers on the sidelines of the chamber.
The German leader has set a three-year timetable for her departure from the political scene last month, allowing her to focus on her legacy rather than the demands of the next election. After maintaining the cohesion of the eurozone during the debt crisis and postponed Russian aggression in the east, his term ends with EU values threatened by the rise of nationalism in his country and the US president cheering aside.
Tuesday, Trump was still upset by the suffering experienced during his weekend in Paris.
At 6:50 pm in Washington, he tweeted another attack on the French leader, mocking the idea of a European army and hinting that the French had needed America to save them from the Germans in both wars world.
Over the next two hours, as many Frenchmen remembered the terrorist attacks in Paris that killed more than 130 people exactly three years ago, Trump sent a series of additional jibes. He accused Macron of stirring up controversy to deflect his low approval rate, complained about French tariffs on American wine and explained why he had withdrawn from a visit in a country. military cemetery due to bad weather.
An assistant to the French president said that he was happy that Trump took the time to study part of the story. Former Belgian Prime Minister Guy Verhofstadt gave Trump another story lesson on his own Twitter account.
The French official said he thought the tweets were for the local Trump audience. He added that the two leaders speak several times a week and that their relationship is fluid, although it is not always easy. Trump could face further turmoil at home later on Tuesday with CBS reporting that special advocate Robert Mueller could issue new indictments regarding his investigation into Russia's interference in the election of 2016.
Merkel insisted that the EU army would not be directed against NATO allies, but would be "a positive extension of NATO".
The German leader urges her European colleagues to put in place new structures to defend themselves since last year, when Trump lashed out at NATO leaders in Brussels and withdrew from the EU. Paris agreement on climate.
The British government, which is negotiating its exit from the EU, will not support the idea of an EU army, a spokeswoman said.
To contact the journalists on this story: Patrick Donahue in Berlin at [email protected], Jonathan Stearns in Strasbourg, France at [email protected]
To contact the editors responsible for this story: Ben Sills at [email protected], Jones Hayden
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